Over the past ten to fifteen years, organizations have taken significant steps towards defining the technical requirements, architectures, specifications, and open standards-based common information models for the next generation intelligent transmission, distribution, and delivery infrastructures of various utilities, such as electricity, water, oil, and gas. These industry-wide advancements typically depict an intelligent network architecture that is predictive, self-adaptive, self-optimizing, fault-sensing, self-healing, and secure (e.g., an intelligent electric power grid infrastructure). The promises of these intelligent electric grid network architectures are improved reliability, enhanced energy delivery efficiencies, optimized energy conservation services, lower operational and maintenance costs, and higher levels of customer interaction and satisfaction.
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) IntelliGridSM initiative is one attempt at creating the technical foundation for a smart power grid that links electricity with communications and computer control to achieve tremendous gains in reliability, capacity, and customer services. A major early product is the IntelliGrid Architecture, an open-standards, requirements-based approach for integrating data networks and equipment that enables interoperability between products and systems. This program provides utilities with the methodology, tools and recommendations for standards and technologies when implementing systems such as advanced metering, distribution automation, demand response, and wide-area measurement. The program also provides utilities with independent, unbiased testing of technologies and vendor products.
The problem of the current “intelligent” electric grid architectures lies in lack of definition on how to implement an end-to-end highly automated, distributed, electric power network that is predictive, self-adaptive, self-optimizing, fault-sensing, self-healing, and secure. The problem is as much a matter of scale and management, as it is a matter of how to design and implement and advanced electric power sensing, measurement, metering, and utility policy enforcement control layer (e.g., transmission and distribution control, dynamic pricing enforcement, dynamic service delivery and accounting, etc.) over a secure communications network.
In order to implement a utility policy enforcement control layer, in a scalable and efficient manner, what is required is a more than a policy-based network management platform. Policy-based networking was originally developed in the mid/late 1990s and early 2000s within the DMTF and IETF standards organizations. The focus and development efforts on policy-based networking, since its inception, have heretofore been primarily on enterprise and managed IP Services (e.g., VPN, QoS, VoIP . . . ). Policy-based networking methods, techniques, models, protocols, and policy server designs have yet to be applied to the subject domain of utility transmission & distribution network automation. In addition to the present invention of the Energy Switch Router, what is also required to implement an intelligent electric grid is a highly distributed, centrally managed, policy-based logic fabric into which utility transmission and distribution network automation policies, methods, processes, controls, systems, devices, and utility customer profiles are instantiated, managed, and deployed to form an intelligent secure electric grid network.
Accordingly, what is desired are improved methods and apparatus for solving some of the problems discussed above, while reducing further drawbacks, some of which are discussed above.